An internet cyber cafe in Kenya

One year ago in Kenya,Wakili Abasi who is one of my friends set up an internet cafe in the town of Nairobi where he grew up. He wanted to promote the use of the internet to residents living in disadvantaged areas of Nairobi. He did not set up an internet cafe with the intention of making money but to bring the information age to his community. For many people in Kenya and the majority of other African countries, internet cafes can provide their first contact with the internet, the web and e-mail. The number of Kenyans online is growing rapidly. He realised that there was very few people in his neighbourhood who had computers. He told me that he was trying to create opportunities for a maximum of people by the use of the internet. He wanted to create a connection between the residents and the rest of the world. The internet cafe is situated near a college and not far from a small shopping centre. They only have nine computers. Customers can browse the internet and check their email. Some connect only to look for a job. Going online is affordable and the money is enough to cover the rent of the business premise. More people should create online community centres and internet cafes to bring the internet to small cities and rural places of Africa.
If you want to open your own internet cafe, start by doing a cybercafe business plan first. Be sure to have the best internet cafe software and a good internet service provider to offers your customers high speed internet access. Networking hardware is not expensive if you use the right type of network. The cost of setting up your internet cyber cafe depends on the number of services and computers you plan to offer to your customers. It is a rewarding business in Africa and you will probably have plenty of loyal customers and friends.

Wireless internet in Rwanda

In Rwanda, Kigali is to become soon the first ‘wireless’ city in Africa. Wireless networking represent the future of Internet connectivity and computer in Africa. Wireless usually refers to radio connection between devices. WiFi is a wireless Ethernet link operating in the 2.4 GHz band and conforming to IEEE 802.11b. It is claimed to have a range of up to 100 m, but this is very dependent on the location. The Government of Rwanda created a new project to provide a network for Internet access called the Kigali Metropolitan Network. After many years of hard work, the Kigali Metropolitan Network (KMN) and the Kigali Wireless Broadband (WiBro) Network have been launched. This WiBro’s infrastructure was built by Korea Telecom (KT), South Korea’s second largest mobile operator and first fixed-line operator. Kigali is now a “hot spot” capital city in Africa. Internet users in this African city will now be able to use voice-over-IP (VoIP) services and high speed connectivity. The Kigali Metropolitan Network is now able to increase broadband availability to several hundreds of Rwandan institutions including health-care centres, schools and government administrative centres. The national fiber-optic backbone is now complete and provide broadband throughout the country.

New online payment system for mobile users in Tanzania

Mobile phone users in Tanzania can perform online payments and transfers using a new system developed by local firm, Wide International Network, writes The East African publication. From March this year people will be able to transact business online in tourism, travel, sports and entertainment, web maintenance and solution and ticketing. The system allows users to pay for around 30 services offered by a number of companies, businesses, government, learning institutions, faith-based organizations, health institutions, manufacturing and financial institutions. Wide International Network system will merge all related services into a single mobile transaction. In the tourism industry for example, booking offices, travel agents, hotels etc will be possible altogether to simplify the transaction process. Payments are hosted by IX Webhosting of the United States. Using the system, consumers will be able to simplify their tourism arrangements, facilitate bookings and pay bills for local services like water, electricity, insurance and others. The system has been already embraced by several organizations including Azam Marine Company Ltd, Vodacom and Zain Tanzania. Over 10 million Tanzanians with mobile phone access will be able to use the technology, by effecting transactions directly from their bank accounts. The main customers of the system include banks, telephone, water, electricity companies, ministries, revenue authorities, transport companies, municipal councils, exporters, importers, regulatory bodies and online markets.